Congo (Belge) is the culmination of 10 years' worth of trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo for Carl de Keyzer. He accompanied the International Committee of the Red Cross on missions there and began to compile this body of work. The focus of the book is on former holiday hotspots within the DRC, before it was ravaged by contemporary civil war. The idea for the project came from a 1954 tourist guide of Zaire (now DRC). The series fits nicely into the the growing niche between art and journalism. This is the intention of de Keyzer - 'I like visitors to my exhibitions to ask questions on leaving them. Journalistic photos are quickly forgotten. That is the big difference. My projects are more like essays, novels or films. I am not an illustrator.' De Keyzer shies away from the category of a war photographer which is a nice respite considering the project's location. The exhibition goes on display in FotoMuseum of Antwerp from 22nd of January 2010 until the 16th May 2010.
Interview with Carl de Keyzer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGB6X_XgtIU
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